Wednesday, September 23, 2009

The Depot Town Fire

I was awakened around 2:00 in the morning to the sounds of the sirens. My 1st thought was "Oh shit... another high speed chase?" The sirens continued throughout the night, & then I heard the helicopters early this morning as I was getting up. When I turned onto River St. on my way to work, I saw the the firetrucks & ambulances. I figured there had been a train accident, but soon found out that others things were afoot. We've been trying to watch the overhaul of that building all year... & for the last few years... & the changes have been hard to notice. Supposedly, a lot had been done. I've heard that there was all sorts of zoning problems, parking problems, & obviously funding problems. That said, the building was constructed in 1861 as a barracks & staging location for Michigan troops leaving for the Civil War. When they rebuild something there, I hope they're able to not only get passed the problems that have mounted over the years, but retain some sense of history. If someone ends up building a stupid 1 story story mall w/ a party store & a pizza place, I'll be more than pissed. Of course, I'll also be less than pleased if it turns out that the fire was started on purpose.Here are the news reports so far... they're all basically the same, except for the photo in The Echo.Ann Arbor ChronicleDetroit Free PressEastern Echo*Chicago TribuneFirehouse.com* I kind of like the fact that The Echo seems to be the only source w/ an actual picture of the fire. It's an amazing picture too.